Research out of Africa

Abstract

Several initiatives have aimed to strengthen research capacity in Africa over the past couple of years. How is Africa's research landscape faring? Global research report—Africa published on April 12 by Thomson Reuters tries to assess this issue. The report looks at research activity on the continent by measuring the volume of scientific publications produced by countries. It divides Africa into regions—north, central, and south. Unsurprisingly, it finds that South Africa dominates the south with 47 000 papers published during 1999–2008. In the north, Egypt dominates with 30 000 papers published over the same period, and Nigeria leads the central region with more than 10 000 publications. These three nations dominate again when the data are broken down into areas of research, with South Africa publishing the most papers in clinical medicine and most other life sciences (eg, microbiology, immunology, and neuroscience).The report also compares publications with gross domestic product (GDP) since countries with larger economies should be investing more in their research systems and therefore be producing more papers. It finds that of the six leading countries by output (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, and Kenya), four (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Algeria) are also leading countries in terms of GDP. However, the authors note that several countries on the continent, including Nigeria, are not producing as much research as would be expected in view of the size of their economies. The report also assesses collaborations on the continent and abroad by analysing co-authorship on papers. It finds strong partnerships between countries on the continent that share the same language and culture (eg, North Africa), and for the six key countries, the USA is the most frequent collaborative partner outside Africa.The report provides a useful snapshot of research activity in Africa. Essentially, Africa's research output is still small. More collaboration and partnerships between countries in different regions of Africa and externally needs to be fostered. Lack of investment in research should also be addressed by nations that are capable of investing more. Research in Africa can and should flourish over the next decade. Several initiatives have aimed to strengthen research capacity in Africa over the past couple of years. How is Africa's research landscape faring? Global research report—Africa published on April 12 by Thomson Reuters tries to assess this issue. The report looks at research activity on the continent by measuring the volume of scientific publications produced by countries. It divides Africa into regions—north, central, and south. Unsurprisingly, it finds that South Africa dominates the south with 47 000 papers published during 1999–2008. In the north, Egypt dominates with 30 000 papers published over the same period, and Nigeria leads the central region with more than 10 000 publications. These three nations dominate again when the data are broken down into areas of research, with South Africa publishing the most papers in clinical medicine and most other life sciences (eg, microbiology, immunology, and neuroscience). The report also compares publications with gross domestic product (GDP) since countries with larger economies should be investing more in their research systems and therefore be producing more papers. It finds that of the six leading countries by output (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, and Kenya), four (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Algeria) are also leading countries in terms of GDP. However, the authors note that several countries on the continent, including Nigeria, are not producing as much research as would be expected in view of the size of their economies. The report also assesses collaborations on the continent and abroad by analysing co-authorship on papers. It finds strong partnerships between countries on the continent that share the same language and culture (eg, North Africa), and for the six key countries, the USA is the most frequent collaborative partner outside Africa. The report provides a useful snapshot of research activity in Africa. Essentially, Africa's research output is still small. More collaboration and partnerships between countries in different regions of Africa and externally needs to be fostered. Lack of investment in research should also be addressed by nations that are capable of investing more. Research in Africa can and should flourish over the next decade.